Immunology/Parasitology Core B, Peru TMRC. This core will centralize parasitological and immunologic procedures required by all three scientific projects that form the Peru TMRC, in order to optimize the use of resources. Specifically, this core will: 1) coordinate all work related to parasitological and immunological procedures between all three scientific components and the Epidemiology/GIS/Data Management core of the Peru TMRC, 2) coordinate and oversee collection and handling procedures for all biological specimens.3) standardize, perform, and monitor all parasitological and immunological procedures., 4) optimize the use of laboratory personnel, equipment and supplies, 5) coordinate the register and collation of assay results, 6) provide the means for an efficient transfer and diffusion of acquired technology, and 7) provide the environment for immunology and parasitology training for University students and visiting investigators. The core will be located in the School of Sciences of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and will take advantage of the sophistication and long experience our group has had with ELISA and Western blot techniques. Also, previous NIH-funded grants have permitted our group to be implemented with most of the equipment needed to accomplish the studies. The personnel was trained not only as part of their MSc and PhD degrees, but also have had multiple short-term stages in first line institutions at USA and UK devised to master specific techniques. Active links with Johns Hopkins University, CDC, NIH, University of Arizona (USA), Imperial College, Salford University, University of Reading, University of Edinburgh (UK), among other first line scientific institutions, ensure updated access to new developments like those to be used in this proposal (new synthetic peptides, recently standardized assays, and linkage of GIS with the natural history of infection and evolution of immunological markers within longitudinal studies).